Thursday, February 18, 2016

Democrats Demand Government-Funded Lawyers For ILLEGALS

Top Senate Democrats announced legislation Thursday to grant government-funded lawyers to tens of thousands of illegal immigrant children and mothers who surged into the U.S. from Central America over the last few years, opening another front in the thorny immigration battle.

Arguing the Obama administration has been unfair to illegal immigrants by shunting them through a complex legal system without proper attention to their rights, Sen. Harry Reid, the top Democrat in the upper chamber, led colleagues in demanding lawyers and other protections, such as allowing migrants to delay their trials until they get access to their entire government file.

Currently, migrants are able to hire their own lawyers, but the government cannot pay for them.

Though unlikely to advance in the GOP-controlled Congress, the legislation is an important marker for both the presidential campaign and for the ongoing debate over how the U.S. treats the illegal immigrants — and, particularly, the unaccompanied children — that have skyrocketed in recent years.